NYU 2Ls taking questions Forum

[ssteiner]

3) Highlighting is very possible. In undergrad I did this often with ebooks and PDFs on an iPad; it's a breeze--as many different colors as you want, and you can then organize, view, and excise your highlights based on color--plus I love all the other tools digital reading offers: easily search through entire books or documents for words or phrases (this is killer imho), easily copy/paste important text into notes, two simple taps for definitions and wikipedia info on words, not having to carry around and care for physical books, etc. Frankly it'd be frustrating to no end for me to go back to just reading physical books.

If that works best for you, feel free to digitize all your books and use those versions instead. The only caveat-- and it's a major one-- is that some professors won't let you have any digital devices in the classroom. Half of my first-year doctrinal classes were like that, though I think other sections had fewer. Lawyering is always device-free, though you don't really need your "textbook" in that class.

I'd add onto this that while almost all professors allow you to bring the casebook to the exam with you, very few if any are going to allow you to bring an e-reader to the exam, and your laptop will be locked to the exam software and not allow you to access your casebook either.

[JamMasterJ]

2) automatic if you're a commuter. You can trade and shit if you'd rather be in the other building (Vandy is better for 1Ls b/c most of your classes are there)

3) IDK. I know some people have the bindings cut and bound into smaller sections so it's like 5 200 page paperbacks rather than 1 1000 page monstrosity. I don't think I'd like reading casebooks your way - highlighting is impossible and reading on the computer for that long gets tough. In fact, a lot of times we got assigned cases that were online, people printed them out rather than reading online.

2) Is anyone not living in NYU-owned housing considered a commuter?

3) Highlighting is very possible. In undergrad I did this often with ebooks and PDFs on an iPad; it's a breeze--as many different colors as you want, and you can then organize, view, and excise your highlights based on color--plus I love all the other tools digital reading offers: easily search through entire books or documents for words or phrases (this is killer imho), easily copy/paste important text into notes, two simple taps for definitions and wikipedia info on words, not having to carry around and care for physical books, etc. Frankly it'd be frustrating to no end for me to go back to just reading physical books.

2) yes

[JamMasterJ]

wait...Jammaster....FLAG FOOTBALL??

as a former gym class hero i would love to hear more details about this please.

flag football is awesome. Drinking flag football is better

[Family Man]

What's the visitor policy in student housing? I'm living in Mercer and I read that a guest can only stay over six nights in a month, and three consecutive nights in a row. I have a girlfriend and would ideally like her to be able to visit more often than that.

[ssteiner]

What's the visitor policy in student housing? I'm living in Mercer and I read that a guest can only stay over six nights in a month, and three consecutive nights in a row. I have a girlfriend and would ideally like her to be able to visit more often than that.

Yeah the security guards don't care, you can have someone over as much as you want. My girlfriend is over 3-4 nights a week, usually.

[kola141]

Can someone talk about the application process to become an RA for a professor? There's one Con Law professor in particular whose work I'm already familiar with, and I'd love to be this professor's RA during 1L summer or later on. I already plan to take Con Law as my 1L spring "elective," but can I request to take it with the professor I have in mind? (I checked the schedule and he is teaching it this spring.) Also, are Furman scholars given preference for RA-ing with the professors they want? I'm not a Furman scholar but I'm very interested in research and possibly academia. Any info would be very much appreciated. Thanks!

[ssteiner]

Can someone talk about the application process to become an RA for a professor? There's one Con Law professor in particular whose work I'm already familiar with, and I'd love to be this professor's RA during 1L summer or later on. I already plan to take Con Law as my 1L spring "elective," but can I request to take it with the professor I have in mind? (I checked the schedule and he is teaching it this spring.) Also, are Furman scholars given preference for RA-ing with the professors they want? I'm not a Furman scholar but I'm very interested in research and possibly academia. Any info would be very much appreciated. Thanks!

I'm currently an RA this summer, and as far as I know Furman scholars aren't given a leg up for this, but I could be wrong.

There are two ways you can go about getting such a position. One thing that you can do is drop by the professor's office and explain your interest in his/her work and your desire to become an RA. I know several people who did this, usually pretty early in the spring semester, and landed positions. The other thing you can do is wait for RA listings to go up on Symplicity (our job website)- there's a coordinated time in the early spring during which most professors who need RAs post listings detailing what they're looking for. Of course, not all professors post then- the one I'm working for didn't post his listing until early March.

Overall, though, I wouldn't count on getting a position with your 1L ConLaw professor. Both Yoshino and Levinson, the two professors teaching 1Ls, are excellent professors who will be highly in demand if they require RAs. It's also impossible to guarantee you'll get into one or the other's section. You can obviously select your preference when it comes time for course bids (make one your primary bid and the other one your alternate if you don't get the prime), but there's no real way to make a special request.

[GoldHattedGatsby]

Just as I was about to sign a lease for a private apartment today I got offered a spot in Mercer, a J 3 U studio. I like the apartment I found better in every respect, except the fact that the building is not full of other NYU law students. How do y'all feel about the communal and social benefits of living in student housing? Worth giving up a few amenities?

[ssteiner]

Just as I was about to sign a lease for a private apartment today I got offered a spot in Mercer, a J 3 U studio. I like the apartment I found better in every respect, except the fact that the building is not full of other NYU law students. How do y'all feel about the communal and social benefits of living in student housing? Worth giving up a few amenities?

Speaking as someone who lives in Mercer, I think you should pick the apartment if you like it more. Everyone I know who commutes has no problem with socializing. You'll probably have to get used to having friends who don't want to go above 14th Street, though.

[GoldHattedGatsby]

Just as I was about to sign a lease for a private apartment today I got offered a spot in Mercer, a J 3 U studio. I like the apartment I found better in every respect, except the fact that the building is not full of other NYU law students. How do y'all feel about the communal and social benefits of living in student housing? Worth giving up a few amenities?

Speaking as someone who lives in Mercer, I think you should pick the apartment if you like it more. Everyone I know who commutes has no problem with socializing. You'll probably have to get used to having friends who don't want to go above 14th Street, though.

I'd actually be close to campus, so distance isn't really a factor. It's more about missing out on being surrounded by other law students at home, having more opportunities to socialize and study together. And I'll be new to NYC, so I don't have an existing social network in place.

[ssteiner]

Just as I was about to sign a lease for a private apartment today I got offered a spot in Mercer, a J 3 U studio. I like the apartment I found better in every respect, except the fact that the building is not full of other NYU law students. How do y'all feel about the communal and social benefits of living in student housing? Worth giving up a few amenities?

Speaking as someone who lives in Mercer, I think you should pick the apartment if you like it more. Everyone I know who commutes has no problem with socializing. You'll probably have to get used to having friends who don't want to go above 14th Street, though.

I'd actually be close to campus, so distance isn't really a factor. It's more about missing out on being surrounded by other law students at home, having more opportunities to socialize and study together. And I'll be new to NYC, so I don't have an existing social network in place.

I think if you're near campus then you 100% shouldn't worry. We had weekly Friday night parties in Mercer's basement and plenty of people from off campus showed up. Mercer and Dag aren't really like dorms- people don't randomly go knock on other people's doors for spur of the moment hanging out/study sessions. Sometimes I'll arrange to study with friends in a Mercer study room, but you can get into the building even if you don't live there.

[GoldHattedGatsby]

Just as I was about to sign a lease for a private apartment today I got offered a spot in Mercer, a J 3 U studio. I like the apartment I found better in every respect, except the fact that the building is not full of other NYU law students. How do y'all feel about the communal and social benefits of living in student housing? Worth giving up a few amenities?

Speaking as someone who lives in Mercer, I think you should pick the apartment if you like it more. Everyone I know who commutes has no problem with socializing. You'll probably have to get used to having friends who don't want to go above 14th Street, though.

I'd actually be close to campus, so distance isn't really a factor. It's more about missing out on being surrounded by other law students at home, having more opportunities to socialize and study together. And I'll be new to NYC, so I don't have an existing social network in place.

I think if you're near campus then you 100% shouldn't worry. We had weekly Friday night parties in Mercer's basement and plenty of people from off campus showed up. Mercer and Dag aren't really like dorms- people don't randomly go knock on other people's doors for spur of the moment hanging out/study sessions. Sometimes I'll arrange to study with friends in a Mercer study room, but you can get into the building even if you don't live there.

Thank you kindly for the input, you have assuaged my indecision. I'm living just two blocks north of the park, so I figure it's basically on campus. When you say you can still get in to Mercer if you don't live there, do you mean you can get in with just a student ID or do you need to have someone who lives there get you in?

[Anciano]

Thank you kindly for the input, you have assuaged my indecision. I'm living just two blocks north of the park, so I figure it's basically on campus. When you say you can still get in to Mercer if you don't live there, do you mean you can get in with just a student ID or do you need to have someone who lives there get you in?

Often you can get in with just an ID, but occasionally the doormen will hassle you a bit and someone has to come downstairs to let you in. Either way, not living there never got in the way of people who wanted to socialize in Mercer. Like ssteiner said, you're fine as long as you live close by (and, to a slightly lesser extent, even if you don't).

[americanman]

any info on these professors?

[sinfiery]

Oh man, got my schedule too. Thoughts on Epstein for contracts, Hershkoff for procedure, Schulofer for crim law and Rosieman for lawyering?

[Anciano]

Oh man, got my schedule too. Thoughts on Epstein for contracts, Hershkoff for procedure, Schulofer for crim law and Rosieman for lawyering?

Hershkoff is supposed to be amazing, though I haven't had her. Epstein is ... an experience. About 10% of people loved him and no one else had any idea what he was talking about. I would strongly recommend getting the Chirelstein supplement and reading the relevant sections before class, because neither he nor the awful textbook will explain anything about what's going on.

[sinfiery]

Hershkoff is supposed to be amazing, though I haven't had her. Epstein is ... an experience. About 10% of people loved him and no one else had any idea what he was talking about. I would strongly recommend getting the Chirelstein supplement and reading the relevant sections before class, because neither he nor the awful textbook will explain anything about what's going on.

Awesome, thanks for the info! Pretty excited now, starting to get real.

[Anciano]

For everyone who's getting section info, by the way, a great way to find out about professors is to check their course evaluations here. Most of them are pretty consistent from year to year.

[GoldHattedGatsby]

Just got my schedule. I've got Geistfeld for Torts, Miller for Procedure, Davis for Contracts, and Grant for Lawyering. Any of you 2Ls or 3Ls have thoughts on these Proffs you'd can share?

[one_by_one]

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[ssteiner]

For everyone who's getting section info, by the way, a great way to find out about professors is to check their course evaluations here. Most of them are pretty consistent from year to year.

Hm. I'm trying to look at the course evals for my lawyering prof who taught in Spring 2013, but it says that I'm not allowed to view the survey? Are Spring 2013 course evals just not viewable yet? I'm confused.

Spring 2013 evaluations aren't viewable yet, from what I understand.

I had A. Miller for Civ Pro, Epstein for Torts, Schulhoffer for Crim, Marotta-Wurgler for Contracts (don't think she's teaching it this year) and Shapiro/Roman for Lawyering. You all can hit me up if you have any questions about them.

[americanman]

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[one_by_one]

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[ssteiner]

For everyone who's getting section info, by the way, a great way to find out about professors is to check their course evaluations here. Most of them are pretty consistent from year to year.

Hm. I'm trying to look at the course evals for my lawyering prof who taught in Spring 2013, but it says that I'm not allowed to view the survey? Are Spring 2013 course evals just not viewable yet? I'm confused.

Spring 2013 evaluations aren't viewable yet, from what I understand.

I had A. Miller for Civ Pro, Epstein for Torts, Schulhoffer for Crim, Marotta-Wurgler for Contracts (don't think she's teaching it this year) and Shapiro/Roman for Lawyering. You all can hit me up if you have any questions about them.

what can you tell me about shapiro?

She's fine. Some people in our class didn't warm up to her because she can be a bit tough, but that's because no one takes Lawyering super seriously because it's an ungraded class.

Honestly though my advice to you is not to take Lawyering super seriously. You're building practical skills but it's not graded so don't stress about it. And don't be that douche who gets really intense about the negotiations that you'll have to do, everyone hates that person.

[Anciano]

For what classes do we need the latest edition of a textbook? Or can we usually get by with an older one? Asking for CivPro and Lawyering in particular.

For Lawyering you can almost certainly get by with an older textbook. (Coincidentally, I have one available!) For doctrinal classes, you could try, but especially in CivPro enough has changed over the last few years that you should probably stick with the newest version. It's also annoying trying to keep track of the page number differences. That's not to say you couldn't do it, but I don't think it's worth it.